Unless you have a single DC, servers should point to alternate DNS server before pointing to themselves.

Some IT people may use 127.0.0.1 as DNS3, personally I never use that.

All servers are GC

I though as a general rule all DC servers should first point to themselves before pointing to alternate DC

KTACZALA what you are saying it new to me, are you sure of that? that is Microsoft recommendation?

Thanks

There are differing opinions, but this is the way I've always done it.if you do a search for which DNS server first, read several.

@ktaczala - Even with Microsoft, are there differences of opinion:From the Active Directory team at Microsoft:It depends on who you ask. :-) We in MS have been arguing this amongst ourselves for 11 years now. Here are the general guidelines that the Microsoft AD and Networking Support teams give to customers, based on our not inconsiderable experience with customers and their CritSits:1.If a DC is hosting DNS, it should point to itself at least somewhere in the client list of DNS servers.2.If at all possible on a DC, client DNS should point to another DNS server as primary and itself as secondary or tertiary. It should not point to self as primary due to various DNS islanding and performance issues that can occur. (This is where the arguments usually start)3.When referencing a DNS server on itself, a DNS client should always use a loopback address and not a real IP address.4.Unless there is a valid reason not to that you can concretely explain with more pros than cons, all DC’s in a domain should be running DNS and hosting at least their own DNS zone; all DC’s in the forest should be hosting the _MSDCS zones. This is default when DNS is configured on a new Win2003 or later forest’s DC’s. (Lots more arguments here).5.DC’s should have at least two DNS client entries.6.Clients should have these DNS servers specified via DHCP or by deploying via group policy/group policy preferences, to avoid admin errors; both of those scenarios allow you to align your clients with subnets, and therefore specific DNS servers. Having all the clients & members point to the same one or two DNS servers will eventually lead to an outage and a conversation with us and your manager. If every DC is a DNS server, clients can be fine-tuned to keep their traffic as local as possible and DNS will be highly available with special work or maintenance. It also means that branch offices can survive WAN outages and keep working, if they have local DC’s running DNS.7.We don’t care if you use Windows or 3rd party DNS. It’s no skin off our nose: you already paid us for the DC’s and we certainly don’t need you to buy DNS-only Windows servers. But we won’t be able to assist you with your BIND server, and their free product’s support is not free.8.(Other things I didn’t say that are people’s pet peeves, leading to even more arguments).

There are plans afoot to consolidate all this info, expand it, and get our message consistent and consolidated. This has started in the Windows Server 2008 R2 BPA for DNS. We also recently released a new namespace planning site that explains and prevents some design pitfalls:DNS Namespace Planning Solution Centerhttp://support.microsoft.com/namespace

And we offer this great guide and portal site:Creating a DNS Infrastructure Designhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc725625(WS.10).aspx